Tale of two beans - red bean and soya bean jelly

Franchised kopitiams have been sprouting up faster than you can say lallang after a rainfall.  Apart from the usual kopi and teh in the menu, they have taken a leaf out of Starbucks and Coffee Bean and now offer ice-blended concoctions too, albeit with local flavours.  One unusual combination is the soya bean milk topped with red bean drink.  They blend the soya bean milk with ice, scoop a couple spoonfuls of red bean over it and you slurp it down with a large fat straw.

With Chinese new year celebrated over 15 days, there's a lot of celebrating with the family and friends.  It is also a cultural norm not to visit empty-handed - so it's usual to bring food or something sweet.  I think it is to symbolise a plentiful and sweet year ahead.  After a couple of days, I was racking my brain for something new and interesting to bring to the next family get-together. 

Ta-dah....soya bean milk with red bean! Not the drink, but put together into a layered jelly.  Jelly or rather agar-agar is an incredibly versatile dessert and you are only limited by your imagination and creativity. This combination of soya bean and red bean is also visually nice for CNY as it has a deep maroon from the red bean layer.  Because it is quite opaque looking, it resembles kuih more than jelly. 

This is a reasonably quick dessert to make.  Use ready-to-drink soya bean milk either the UHT variety or the freshly made one from the  "tau foo far" stall.  Personally the fresh one is nicer.  Red bean does take a long time to cook, so I cheat a little.  Once they are soft but not yet tender, I blend them first, and then continue the cooking process.  By blending them earlier, the smaller particles cook faster and if necessary I blend again at the end.  Yes, whatever it takes to reduce prep time.

Use a 2 litre volume mould

Ingredients:

2 packets of agar-agar powder

1/2 cup uncooked red beans - washed

some pandan leaves (optional0

250gm sugar

Water

3tbsp sugar

1litre soya bean drink - sweetened

Method:

Red bean layer

1.  In a small pot, put in enough water to cover the red beans, and pandan leaves and bring to a boil.  Simmer for about 45 minutes or until tender.  Stir occasionally and add water if necessary.  Don't let it dry out as the beans  won't cook.  Once tender, blend the red bean mixture.  Keep aside.

2.  Stir 1 packet of agar-agar powder with 250gm sugar. 

3.  Measure the total volume of the blended red bean.  You will need to measure enough water to make up a total of 1 litre of liquid.

4.  Place the water in a small pot, add in the agar-agar + sugar mixture and bring to a boil.  Do not cover, keep stirring to prevent burning.

6.  Once mixture has come to a boil, remove from heat and add in the red bean mixture. 

7.  Give it a good stir and pour into the mould.  Proceed to soya bean layer.

Soya bean layer

1.  Stir 1 packet of agar-agar powder with 3 tbsp sugar.

2.  Place the soya bean drink in a small pot, add in the agar-agar + sugar mixture and bring to a boil.  Do not cover, and keep stirring to prevent burning.

3.  At this point, the red bean layer should have started to set and be slightly firm already.  Prick the red bean layer with a fork.  This is to allow the soya bean layer to stick to the red bean layer.

4.  Pour the soya bean mixture over the red bean layer.  Cool and chill in the refrigerator for about 2 hours until firm to touch.

5.  To unmould, run a palette knife or toothpick around the edges to loosen before turning it over.

Notes :

Do follow the instructions on the packet for making agar-agar. It may vary depending on the brand used.

The cook time on the red beans is approximate only as some beans take a longer time to cook.

Do prick the red bean layer to allow the soya bean layer to stick.  Otherwise you will end up with 2 disparate pieces of agar-agar. 

Osmanthus Flower Power





On a recent trip to Hong Kong, I came across a dessert called Osmanthus jelly.  Apparently this is very popular in Hong Kong especially during summer as it is supposed to be 'cooling".  Its made with dried osmanthus flowers 桂花 or "gui hua".  Piqued by this, I went to the neighbourhood Chinese medical hall to look for it and was pleasantly surprised that it was sold here.
The dried osmanthus flower is really pretty to look at, and it has a lovely delicate scent.  It's hard to describe the scent; a light sweet-ish floral (duh) aroma.
I tried to re-create the dessert that I had, with alternate layers of coconut and osmanthus jellies.  And since I really dislike using gelatine (it's one of those pet peeves with no basis what-so-ever), agar-agar was used as a substitute.



the osmanthus flowers add a pretty touch


Ingredients:
1 packet agar agar powder
900 ml water
180g sugar
1 tbsp + 1 tsp dried osmanthus
1/2 packet dehydrated coconut powder

Method:

1. In a pot add water, sugar, agar agar powder and bring to boil over medium heat.
2. Transfer half of the agar mixture to another pot and stir in the osmanthus flowers.
3. With the remaining half, stir in coconut powder.
4. Pour 1/2 of the Osmanthus jelly into the mold.  When slightly firm to touch, add 1/2 of coconut layer.  Continue process with the remainder.
5. Leave to cool at room temperature and refrigerate Osmanthus jelly to set. Serve chilled.

Layered agar-agar

Hari Raya celebrations just started, and with it comes the inevitable and overly-indulgent feasting on lemang, rendang, lontong and kuih raya.  The major cooking spree starts the night before Raya, and the smells of spices and coconut wafting across from the neighbour's proves irresistible.


So, what to bring to my aunt's open house?  There's always a battalion of cousins ever-ready to eat, and more sedate aunts and uncles.  Hmmm.... with the hot weather, perhaps a nice cold agar-agar will do the trick - something to sooth and glide down easily after a fiery and rich repast.  Neither too rich nor heavy to handle.  Agar-agar brings back nostalgic memories of birthday parties when it was de riguer to have agar-agar in its translucent glory quivering on the table. 

It is Hari Raya afterall, so it's got to be green, and I think coconut and pandan flavours will go well.  This layered agar-agar takes some patience as you have to wait for each layer to harden slightly before adding the next layer.  But it's worth the time and effort and it looks quite pretty.

I used some fresh pandan leaves from the garden for flavouring and for the gorgeously light green colour.  Its natural this way, and feels healthier.  You can substitute with food colouring if you prefer.   Just remember that agar-agar needs loads of sugar, so if you're into healthier cooking like me, reduce the amount.  The recipe below has been adjusted to reduced-sugar already.

Pandan coconut agar-agar

Makes a tray of 10" x 8" (or find a mould which holds the total water volume)
Ingredients :
Coconut layer
1 packet agar-agar powder ( I use Jim Willie or Swallow brand)
800ml cold water (if you like it less firm, use 950ml water)
200gm sugar
1 packet powdered/instant coconut
Pinch of salt

Coloured layers - this makes 1 colour, so if you want 2 colours just multiply quantity by 2. 
I used 2 colours - green and red.
1 packet of agar-agar powder
800ml cold water
200gm sugar
pandan juice, or food colour, or use coloured agar-agar powder

Method:

1. Stir the instant coconut powder into the cold water, making sure there are no lumps.  Then add the agar-agar and sugar and bring the mixture to boil.  Add salt.  Sieve mixture and return to pot. Leave it on very low heat until ready for assembly.
2.  For the transparent layer, put all ingredient except food colour, into a pot and boil until dissolved. Sieve mixture and return to pot. Leave on very low heat or keep warm in double-boiler.

Assembling:

1. Measure about 400ml of transparent agar-agar and colour it in the colour you like. Leave it to harden slightly.  Once slightly firm, use a toothpick or fork to lightly poke holes onto the surface.  This will allow the next layer to 'stick' on top without sliding off.

2. The next layer will be approx 400ml of the coconut milk agar agar. Leave to harden slightly

Do the same alternating between the transparent layers and the coconut milk layer until all the agar agar have been used up.

3. Refrigerate for a couple of hours until thoroughly firm and chilled.  Serve chilled.

Enjoy....Selamat Hari Raya and happy Merdeka :)